USA > Maine > Oxford County > Bethel > History of Bethel : formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890, with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics > Part 18
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1837. Phineas Frost was chosen moderator and Elias M. Car- ter, clerk. Ebenezer Eames was chosen treasurer. James C. Bean and Aaron Cross were elected collectors of taxes, each for his re- spective parish. Among the minor town officers were Jedediah T. Kimball, Moses Barker, Bartlett Hodgdon, William Goddard, Stephen Estes, Benjamin Estes, Aaron M. York and Ephraim C. Bartlett. Charles Frost, Benjamin Donham and Thomas Roberts were elected school committee. Three thousand dollars were raised for roads. The town's poor were disposed of at auction. The re- pair of the bridges over Bear, Sunday and Pleasant rivers was left with the selectmen. Tilton B. and Joseph Heath were added to Peter Twitchell's school district and Thomas Goss to the Eli Foster district. At a meeting March thirtieth, it was voted that Bethel re- ceive its share of the surplus revenue, and Ebenezer Eames was chosen agent to receive the money. Subsequently Jedediah Bur- bank and Nathan Grover, together with Ebenezer Eames were con- stituted a committee to receive the money. They were required to give bonds to the town for the faithful discharge of their duties. It was then voted that the money, when received, be loaned to the inhabitants on their notes properly secured. Two new school dis- tricts were created, one on petition of Jonathan A. Russell and one on petition of Dr. Timothy Carter. After several meetings and much excited discussion, it was voted that the town's proportion of
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the surplus revenue be deposited in the town treasury and be divided among the heads of families in town according to the last census, as a loan at six per cent. interest. At the next meeting it was voted that the money should be distributed as provided, only so modified that heads of families should only be required to give their personal promise to pay when called upon to do so. Phineas Frost was elected representative.
1838. Aaron Mason was elected collector for the whole town. Phineas Frost, Israel Kimball and Moses Mason were chosen select- men. Among minor town officers were Chandler Russell, David Sanborn, Daniel Estes, John Needham, William F. Kendall and Amos Andrews. The following persons were made a school dis- trict by themselves : John Williamson, Levi Shaw, John Beattie, Richard Garland, Timothy Carter, Elias M. Carter, James F. Car- ter, Benjamin Donham, Israel Kimball, Jedediah T. Kimball, Ed- mund Merrill and Mary Mason. Another school district was made up of the following persons : Jonathan A. Russell, Timothy Capen, Aaron Abbot, Caleb Coffin, David Coffin, John Russell, Leander Russell, Eleazer Twitchell, Aaron Abbot, Jr., Ayers Mason and George Chapman. The town's poor were bid off by Moses Bart- lett at five hundred and thirty dollars. A road was accepted for Urban Shorey from his house to the house built by Elijah Gossom. The trustees of the ministerial and school funds were requested to pay over the funds in their hands to the town officers. Timothy Hastings was chosen agent to oppose the proposed road from Walk- + er's Mills to Lovel. For Governor, John Fairfield had two hundred and eighty-nine votes and Edward Kent ninety-seven. Phineas Frost was elected representative.
1839. Moses Mason was elected moderator and Elias M. Car- ter, clerk. Voted that the town pay a reasonable sum for trans- porting the soldiers to Augusta, and that they must be there on Wednesday next at nine o'clock in the forenoon. A committee was appointed who contracted with John Hastings, Bezaleel Kendall, Benjamin Brown, Joseph Twitchell, John Needham, William Fare- well and Elhanon Bartlett to furnish teams and take the drafted sol- diers from the town of Bethel to Augusta, their expenses to be paid by the town, but they are to receive no pay unless the State shall pay it. Israel Kimball was elected collector of taxes. Elijah Har- den was chosen sexton, and Moses Mason, town agent. The poor
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were left in charge of the selectmen. It was voted to give the use of Barker's Ferry to the bridge corporation. Voted that the treas- urer burn the receipts given for surplus revenue money. Chose a committee to re-district the town for school purposes. Francis Up- ton was allowed to expend his school money in Albany. A road was accepted from Caleb Bessee's to Tilden Bartlett's, one from Rufus Grover's to Jedediah Grover's, and one from Zenas Cary's to Gould Spofford's, also a road from Abraham Bryant's house to the town road that leads from Solomon Annas' to Eli H. Cushman's. Voted to rebuild Bear river bridge. The job was struck off to Ezra Twitchell, the lowest bidder. The meetings were now held at Mid- dle Interval meeting house. A meeting, September ninth, was ad- journed to Elias M. Carter's new barn. Voted to divide the town.
1840. Moses Mason was chosen moderator and Elias M. Car- ter, clerk. Israel Kimball was again elected collector. Voted to accept the report of the treasurer of the ministerial and school funds. Among those elected to office were Lyman Bird, John Bird, David Elliot, William Whitcomb, Jesse Cross and Elihu Bean. The support of the poor was sold at auction, John Russell to Wil- liam Andrews, William Grover to Sumner Stearns, Betsey Chapman to Edmund Bean, Mrs. Goss to her son Thomas Goss, and Susan Farewell's child to Bezaleel Kendall. John Estes was struck off to Edmund Bean. Mrs. Sprague and son were left in the hands of the selectmen. The report of the committee on school districts was read and accepted. District number one was in the lower part of the town on the north side of the river. Number two was next to it, and called the Willis district ; number three, the Peter G. Smith district ; number four, the Thaddeus Twitchell district; number five. the Simeon Twitchell district ; number six, Richard Estes dis- trict ; number seven, Eli Foster's district ; number eight, Samuel Kimball's district ; number nine, Humphrey Bean's district ; num- ber ten, Swan Hill district ; number eleven, Middle Interval ; num- ber twelve, Bezaleel Kendall's ; number thirteen, Jonathan Abbot Russell's ; number fourteen, Abial Chandler; number fifteen, Bethel Hill ; number sixteen, Dr. John Grover's ; number seven- teen, Leonard Grover's ; number eighteen, David Holt's ; number nineteen, Amos Andrews ; number twenty, Caleb Bessee's ; number twenty-one, Eli Cushman's (Bird Hill ;) number twenty-two, Jona- than Abbot's (Walker's Mills ;) number twenty-three, James
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Grover's and number twenty-four, Grover Hill. Moses Mason was made town agent. Voted to accept a road from John E. Farewell's to Abial Chandler's, it being just a mile in length.
1841. Moses Mason was chosen moderator and Elias M. Car- ter, clerk. Ebenezer Eames was elected treasurer. Wesley Co- burn, Pinckney Burnham, Jonathan C. Robertson and John Hast- ings, surveyors of lumber. Peter H. Albee, Francis Barker, Amaziah Nutting and James Locke, tythingmen, and William Frye, Leander Jewett and Eliphaz C. Bean, school committee. Voted to build a town house, to stand somewhere between the school house in district number twelve and the Sanborn road. The selectmen were directed to build a road from Hezekiah Moody's to John Estes' place. Voted to divide the fifth school district. A road was accepted for Daniel Hodgdon from his house to the road leading from Locke's Mills to Bean's Corner, near Ebenezer Bart- lett's house, also a road for John D. Gossom, beginning near Jedediah T. Kimball's house and ending near a house once owned by James Hodgdon ; also one leading from said Kimball's to the road leading from Samuel Gossom's to Urban Shorey's. Voted to build a bridge across Sunday river like the bridge across Bear river, and the job was bid off by Ebenezer Eames. At a subsequent meeting, the plan for a town house presented by the selectmen was accepted. Voted to remonstrate against the petition of Phineas Frost, to divide the town by the parish line. For Governor, John Fairfield had two hundred and seventy votes, Edward Kent, sixty- five and Jeremiah Curtis, nineteen. William Frye was elected rep- resentative. For biennial sessions and elections, the town voted thirty-five in favor, and one hundred and twenty-seven opposed.
1842. Aaron Cross was chosen moderator and Eliphaz C. Bean, clerk. William Frye was chosen town agent. The school committee men were re-elected. The town's poor were left at the disposal of the overseers of the poor. The practice of selling their support at auction, which had prevailed for several years, was omitted this year. A report of the school and ministerial funds was made, showing that they amounted to eleven hundred sixty-five dol- lars and thirty-five cents. These proceedings were considered void, in consequence of the moderator not being sworn, and another annual was held, called at the town house, on the eleventh day of April. The officers named above were elected. The town house
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was first used at the annual election in September, eighteen hun- dred and forty-one. The question of dividing the town was again voted upon and was decided by a large majority in the negative. Voted that our representative to the legislature be informed of this vote and of the large majority against a division of the town.
1843. The old moderator and clerk were re-elected. Elias M. Carter was chosen treasurer. Gilman Chapman bid off the collec- tion of taxes and was chosen constable. Among the minor town officers were Zenas Cary, Winchester Whitman, Moses H. Frost, Gideon A. Hastings, Tyler P. Town, David Blake, Alfred Estes, Thatcher York and Benjamin Donham. Voted that cows may run at large. A road was accepted for Learned Whitman, between his place and Joseph Twitchell's ; also a road from Alvah Wheeler's, of two hundred and twenty-four rods in length, and a road on petition of Edwin Coffin and others, commencing at the house of John Hib- bard. The ministerial and school funds were reported, amounting to eighteen hundred and nineteen dollars and seventy-two cents. For Governor, Hugh J. Anderson had one hundred and seventy-five votes, James Appleton, thirty, and Edward Robinson, twenty.
1844. Phineas Frost was chosen moderator and Ira C. Kimball, clerk. William Frye, Leander Jewett and Mighill Mason were chosen school committee. Gilman Chapman was chosen collector and constable. The support of the poor was again sold at auction. A road was accepted leading from Thomas P. Howard's to the county road near Arnold Powers' place. For Governor, Hugh J. Anderson had two hundred and forty-eight votes, Edward Robinson, fifty-nine and James Appleton, thirty-two. At the presidential election this year, the democratic electors had two hundred and forty-two votes, the whig, fifty and the free soil, thirty-six.
1845. Moses B. Bartlett was chosen moderator and Ira C. Kimball, clerk. The usual sums were raised for town purposes. The support of the poor was sold at auction to the lowest bidders. Isaac Estes was set off from school district number seven and joined to six. Voted that John S. Swan's cellar be a pound. Voted to leave the covering of Bear river bridge in the hands of the select- men. Voted that the old clothes belonging to the late Colonel York be given to Peter York. A road was accepted from John E. Fare- well's to Abial Chandler's. The selectmen were instructed to ex-
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amine the several routes for the Grover Hill road and report on the same. Voted to accept the alteration in Samuel Hassaltine's road as made by the selectmen ; voted the selectmen examine a route for an alteration between Walker's Mills and Locke's Mills ; also a road for Andrew Stiles ; also a road for Jedediah T. Kimball, from the county road opposite Israel Kimball's.
1846. Phineas Frost was chosen moderator and Hiram Holt, clerk. Charles Frost, Elias M. Carter and Mighill Mason were chosen school committee. Voted to accept John Jordan's road. The poor were left in the hands of the selectmen. Three thousand dollars were raised for roads. Voted to give John Cushman his bond for the support of widow Conn. A road was accepted for Joseph Cummings between his place and a point opposite .Jared Young's house. Voted to instruct the selectmen to petition the Supreme Court for commissioners to establish the westerly line of Bethel. For Governor, John W. Dana had one hundred and sixty- one votes, Samuel Fessenden, forty-seven and David Bronson, thirty-one. Henry Ward and Hiram Holt, 2d, were licensed to sell spirituous liquors.
1847. Moses B. Bartlett was chosen moderator and Hiram Holt, 2d, clerk. Voted to leave the cases of Forbes, Boothby and Gallison in the hands of the selectmen. The treasurer was directed to hire one thousand and fifty dollars for the use of the town. The paupers were left in charge of the selectmen. Voted that the town fence the burying ground on Alexander P. Wentworth's farm. The line between Bethel and Rumford was perambulated this year. The same parties as last year were authorized to sell liquors. John W. Dana had one hundred and sixty-three votes for Governor, David Bronson, seventeen, and Samuel Fessenden, fifty-four.
1848. Elias M. Carter was chosen moderator and Mighill Mason, clerk. Robert A. Chapman was elected treasurer. The poor were left in the hands of the overseers of the poor. A road was accepted from Melvin Farewell's house to the county road, about five rods west of Pleasant river bridge. Nathan Grover was elected representative. The democratic electors of president this year, received sixty-seven votes and the opposition had forty-nine.
1849. Leander Jewett was chosen moderator and Mighill Mason, clerk. Among the minor town officers were Stephen Cum-
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mings, Tilton Bennett, Nathan W. Ethridge, Joseph Merrill, Henry R. Bartlett, Suel Bisbee, Moses A. Mason, Eber Clough, James Lapham, John G. Elliot, Samuel H. Chapman, Evi Needham, Amos Young and Elias S. Bartlett. For Governor, John Hubbard had two hundred and thirteen votes, George F. Talbot, fifty-two, and Elijah L. Hamlin, twenty-six. Abernethy Grover had one hundred and twenty-eight votes for representative, and Eliphaz C. Bean, one hundred and twenty.
1850. Aaron Cross was elected moderator and Gideon A. Hast- ings, clerk. Eliphaz C. Bean, Charles R. Locke and Tyler P. Town were chosen selectmen. Among the minor town officers were Stephen Estes, Hezekiah Hutchins, John Heselton, Jewett Howard, Abijah Bartlett, William Hapgood, Simon Stevens, Prescott Holt and Timothy Capen. Moses T. Cross was elected collector of taxes. Voted that Hezekiah Moody and Stephen Estes be allowed to spend their school money on Hamlin's Gore. A road was accepted begin- ning at the road east of Tilton Bennett's and running to the old house southwest of Tilton B. Heath's. Voted to build a bridge near Mr. George Tucker's, and the job was bid off by Gideon A. Hast- ings, at one hundred and forty-five dollars. Eliphaz C. Bean was chosen representative.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PICTURESQUE BETHEL.
ORTHERN New England is very properly called the Switz. erland of America, on account of its grand mountain scen- ery extending from Mount Katahdin to the Green Moun- tains, and even to the Adirondacks in New York. The county of Oxford comes within this mountain range, and the town of Bethel has scenery as varied, as beautiful and as grand as any town in the county. Its physical features have already been described, and its mountains and rivers referred to, but the story of its picturesque views, its combination of mountain, hill and valley, its delightful nooks and corners and its shaded driveways, remains to be told. Bethel is a large town, and probably has a greater extent of road- way than any other Oxford county town, and there is hardly a road
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which, as a driveway, does not possess attractions peculiar to itself. It also has numerous hills and mountains, from the summits of which extended views are had, and it is along some of these drive- ways and up some of the hills and mountains that I purpose to take the reader.
Beginning at the east part of the town, the road leads along by the side of a curious ridge, called by the early settlers' and still known as the Whale's Back. The road was originally constructed and extended along this ridge for some miles, but after settlers came the route was changed for their convenience. The ridge is one of the numerous Kames or horsebacks found in Maine, only it is better defined and longer than most others. It is composed of sand, gravel, and cobble stones worn and rounded, and is without doubt the result of glacial action. The road to Rumford is quite level and bordered by pleasant farms, but the heights on both sides are wooded, and at some points rise into mountains. Passing out of Rumford about a mile above the Corner, the road continues along the table land, and below, broad intervals stretching away to the river. Occasional glimpses in passing, are had of Hanover farms once belonging to Bethel, consisting of low and high intervale and upland, in some cases extending high up the hill-slopes. At some points the road is shaded by overhanging trees, and again it passes through cultivated lands and by neat farm buildings indicating thrift and prosperity. And so having passed the Hutchins place, where Luther Bean commenced for himself ; the Richard Estes place, where Samuel Goss began a clearing ; the Goddard place, where Jeremiah Andrews lived ; the Stephen Cummings farm, first occu- pied by Eliphaz Powers, and then by the Frosts, Thomas and Phineas ; then through the pine woods, though the once beautiful pines have been laid low to gratify the insatiable avarice of the lum- berman ; then by the place where Amos Powers lived at the time of the Indian raid, and the places where Jonathan Bartlett and his brother Thaddeus first erected homes, and now we are at Bean's Corner, where Joseph Ayer lived. There are two settlers' roads leading from the road we have just passed over, southwardly up steep hills, and if we choose to follow them, we can get a good view of the splendid Hanover farms early occupied by Segar, the Powers brothers, Duston, Willis and the Bartletts, backed by wooded hills, and in the distance, Puzzle Mountain, where much money was spent in mining for plumbago. Here at Bean's Corner the road comes in
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from Locke's Mills and Kimball and Bird Hills, and from the two latter elevations, the views are varied and beautiful. From Bird Hill the Greenwood and Woodstock ponds are seen and the beetling bluffs overhanging one of them. The Locke's Mills road passes the Goss and other mountains. This was once called the Otter pond road, from a little pond lying at the base of Goss mountain. The stream which flows from it is sometimes called Otter brook and sometimes Alder brook, either being appropriate enough, and pass- ing northwardly, after being re-enforced by several other small streams, flows into the great river west of Bean's Corner. The road from Otter pond going toward Locke's Mills soon passes into the woods and along the side of a ridge, and though the views here are not particularly enchanting, the shade is very grateful, provided the day be hot and sultry.
Opposite Bean's Corner, the river is some distance away, the road forming a nearly half circle, but the intervals here are broad and fertile and so low that every spring freshet inundates them. This is why the road does not keep along near the river bank as above and below. Passing upward, Otter brook is passed, and then we come to the little church on the left occupied jointly by the Bap- tists and Methodists, and opposite is the old Ephraim Powers place. The never failing cemetery is south of the church where
"The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
Passing the Asa Kimball and the Samuel Kimball places where their posterity still occupy, the road approaches nearer the river at the farm where Josiah Bean lived in the early times, and where his children's children now live. Here looking backward diagonally across the river, is one of the finest interval views in the whole town. The road here is quite high, and the view of the broad interval in rear of Bean's Corner and across into Hanover, is unobstructed, save by an occasional giant elm, with drooping branches as if in mourning for its mates which fell victims to the woodman's axe in the long ago. One lingers long in this spot, entranced by the va- riety and beauty of the landscape, the whole seeming almost like an enchanted land. Yet we know that nature, by its slow processes, has formed these broad and fertile intervals, these higher table lands, and the environments of hill and mountain, while man has done the rest. The road is now quite near the river, and passes the farms where Samuel Ingalls, Asa Kimball, senior, and John and
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Isaac York early lived, but which have long since been in the pos- session of others. South of these places is Swan's Hill, which can be reached by several roads from each of which, a different set of views is presented, all interesting and worth seeing. The great bend in the river begins here, and the road cuts across through Mid- dle Interval and approaches the river again near the Capen farm. The intervale views along here are very much the same as has been described below, but that part of Middle Interval through which the road passes, is a pine plain and continues the same for some dis- tance toward Bethel Hill. Here is where Enoch Bartlett, the eldest of the six brothers who came from Newton to Bethel, first made him a home, and it was here that Amos Hastings, John Kilgore and Dr. Timothy Carter first settled. The intervale opposite, in the half circle formed by the river is extensive and of excellent quality. And so we pass on toward Bethel Hill, by the places where Benja- min and John Russell once lived, leaving the Sanborn and Oliver places at the right, and Kendall's ferry ; by the Coffin and Aaron Abbot places, to the Ayers Mason farm once occupied by Joseph G. Swan, an early settler.
Near John Russell's place, a road once led up the hill toward the mountain to the Jordan place. From this point a charming west- erly view is had. The valley of the river can be seen extending be- tween the mountain passes away into New Hampshire, through which is seen the Androscoggin meandering amid numerous little islands, until it reaches the base of the hill at our feet, when it turns abruptly to the north toward the mouths of Sunday and Bear rivers. The good intervale farms, the neat dwellings, the beautiful groves, the lights and shadows on the mountain sides and the full view of the different peaks of the White Hills, all unite to render this one of the most charming spots in town, and it is within twenty minutes ride of the Common on the Hill. By pursuing this route to the top of Farewell's mountain, the view is much expanded, and the line of the railroad can be seen for a distance of ten miles.
The road from Walker's, now Virgin's Mills, toward Bethel Hill, presents no very great variety of scene. When passing through the lowland, Waterspout mountain is seen, and at the Blake farm, the highest point between the two places once owned by the Annas fam- ily, the view eastward is quite extended, but Walker's mountain shuts off any view in the distance. At the George Chapman place, early occupied by John Walker, tailor, the village of Bethel Hill and
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the northward slope to the river bank, shows to good advantage. The ride to West Bethel affords fine interval and upland views, es- pecially from the top of Robertson's Hill where Oliver Fenno, the early blacksmith settled. The road passes the Seth Wight place and the Samuel Barker farm, and reaching West Bethel, where the stalwart pioneer, John Grover once owned, and turning to the left, the road to Mason's Mill in the town of Mason, is attractive. This town is named for Dr. Moses Mason, who built the first mills, and there is fine fishing in this region for those who like to beguile the wily trout. It is a pretty, rural town, much of it still in primitive woods, and herein is the attraction. On returning, when the sum- mit of Robertson's Hill is reached, the view of Bethel Hill from this point is as picturesque as can possibly be desired, and such as to enrapture the lover of landscape beauty. The road from West Bethel Corner to Gilead presents many pleasant views, especially in the vicinity of Pleasant river, called on the early plan, Brackett's brook.
The view from the pinnacle of Paradise Hill, the road to which goes to Greenwood, and was once the thoroughfare to Portland, is one of the finest, and never fails to excite the admiration of the be- holder. It is only about a mile from the Common. The environ- ments of this part of the town are clearly seen from this place in the form of a circular wall of mountain, broken only at two or three points by narrow passes, the hill upon which we stand being the center, at the base of which is a valley, within which are swells of land of moderate height, exhibiting every variety of landscape. A mile and a half away, the Androscoggin m anders sluggishly along, and when the lights and shadows are at their best, and the fleecy clouds float along against the azure sky, the mountain scenery from this elevation is most enchanting. The mountains in Dixfield, Newry, Grafton, Greenwood and Conway are plainly in view. This Paradise Hill is the pride of Bethel Hill people, and no visitor is permitted to go away without visiting it. A ride up the north side of the river, crossing it at the bridge, is enjoyable. A couple of miles from the Moses A. Mason farm, is the farm where Rev. Eli- phaz Chapman commenced a clearing a little more than a hundred years ago. The house he built and in which he died, is still stand- ing and occupied by his grandson. Near here are the mineral springs, two in number, quite near together yet unlike in character and composition. In ante bellum times, Mr. John S. Chapman
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